


Tactical and Practical

by thesalsagamer396



Series: The man behind the mask [4]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Blackwatch Era, Character Study, How do I tag things again?, Moira never sleeps, Origin Story, Three Kings motif, no details of it, somewhat of a, the forming of Reaper, told in first person, vague genetic disorder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 10:30:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14042286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesalsagamer396/pseuds/thesalsagamer396
Summary: He is beyond human now...





	Tactical and Practical

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry I haven't uploaded anything. I meant to do this when Moira was first released, but I had to replace my computer, and I had a lot of school work and yada yada yada. So, here is my apology.

Funny you should ask. I knew him before he put on that garish mask of his. 

I remember when he offered me a job in Blackwatch. I had just been fired from Overwatch due to ethical clashing. Still, he and his boys came to me and offered me a job as Blackwatch's official medic. It was good pay, and I didn't need to worry about red tape. 

There were three kings in his body. There was Blackwatch Commander Reyes, who was strict to the point of what is akin to sadism. He was cruel and to the point. He didn't shout at you to get things done because he expected you to do it as if it were common sense. And he made sure to beat obedience into your thick skull so that he never does have to shout orders. Everything about him was tactical and practical. 

Then there was Gabriel Reyes. He had a friendly aloofness to him. You could usually find him outside of training and missions. He had hobbies like tailoring and makeup. He didn't really care what you did as long as you didn't do something to bother him. He wasn't as strict as Commander Reyes, but he was very stingy about personal hygiene. He could laugh, but it was usually shortened to a chuckle. He was generally amused by everyone's attempt to talk to him. 

And the rarest one was Gabbie. Gabbie was kind. He was funny. He was caring. He was loving. He was energetic. He was optimistic.  He had this boisterous laugh that could spread to everyone. He would always strike a pose for a camera. Gabbie was...Gabbie was fake. You only ever saw him if he was undercover. No matter how real it seemed, Gabbie was just a veil for Commander Reyes to hide under until it was time to come out. 

Honestly, Reyes was a far more complex man than anyone ever knew. It always makes me laugh when people say he blew up the Strike Commander out of jealousy of his position. None of those three men would be so petty. 

I would know. I killed them all. And I remember the day it happened. 

One night, the commander knocking on my door. It was 2:16 AM exactly. I remember because I checked the time when he said _"You doctors never sleep!"_ He was right, of course. Sleep is for people who don't get work done. 

I remember opening the door, and seeing a king I've never seen before. 

This wasn't Commander Reyes. Not by the look in his eye. This wasn't Gabbie. His face was displaying exactly how he was feeling. This wasn't Gabriel Reyes. The aloofness in the air was absent. 

I didn't know just who was standing at my door. 

_"Can I help you?"_

_"...Yes..."_

I'm not sure how I would describe it, but there was something in his voice that caught my attention. Perhaps...Ah...Maybe...It was as if for a single moment, that man was the most sincere, honest, and desperate man in the world. But, that would be putting it lightly. 

Of course, I let him in. He told me all about his newfound problem. He had, what I'll be calling it, a "genetic disorder". It was fatal, it was terminal, and no one was willing to treat it. In my defense, I did advise against treatment, but he didn't listen. His fear of death overcame even the most basic of common sense. He told me, "Whatever you even think could cure me, do it." I used those words to my advantage. 

I tried everything I could on him. Every experiment that I had was used. I even tested my unrelated experiments on him. It wasn't every day you had a super soldier as a test subject. I made a lot of progress thanks to his desperate situation. Great progress was made. 

Then the smoke appeared one night. 

Meddling with human genes had more consequences than either of us thought. 

I saw the man completely fall apart into smoke. I remember the fear in his eyes. I remember him telling me that he was so cold. How he felt so numb. How he couldn't breathe. 

I remember how he had no pulse. 

_"This is incredible! You are a living corpse! With this kind of technology and a bit of fine tuning, we could make the dead rise and walk again! Sir, this is amazing! It's--...Sir...?"_

_"So cold...so...cold...Can't breathe...So quiet...It's so quiet, doc...!"_

_"Sir, just settle down. I'll make sure you feel right as rain again."_

_"It...hurts...I can't feel anything...So cold..."_

_"Sir? Sir?! I need you to focus!"_

I'll admit, I did panic a bit. I saw a man's hopes and dreams fall apart along with his body that night. And it wasn't a slow process, either. It started from his fingertips and went down until there was nothing left. I would liken it to watching a stone age and crumble within minutes. 

It took days for him to be able to put himself together again. But he was never the same. 

Three kings had died that night. In their place, the Reaper was born. It rose from the dust of their bodies and took the form of a broken, cruel man and hid its disfigured face behind a mask of a harbinger of death. A shred of the past that lingered with him. 

The man behind the mask isn't a real man. I made sure of it. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be working on Impossible Man next. I can't be sure when I'll release it. After that will be the end of In The Pale Moonlight (I know some of you are waiting for that. I had to completely redo the ending because I just didn't like it at all. And I replaced my computer). Have a nice day~


End file.
